Panama's poor brace for economic change

For the most part, Panama is a great country. Most Panamanians are decent people. My wife of 42 years is from Panama. There is a fairly booming tourist and non-citizen retirement market in real estate (In a country where 40% live in poverty and there is over 9% unemployment, the 100 plus thousand dollar homes, condos, apartments, etc. are very clearly not for the average Panamanian). This market is making the rich richer with little ripple effect on it's poor. Shouldn't there be a way to enjoy the fruits of Panama without doing so on the backs of the poor?

As usual, when Americans put their sticky-fingers into something it always ruins it.

davenh1963 wrote:

As usual, when Americans put their sticky-fingers into something it always ruins it.

dave where do you live? you are in america?
are you american? what a buch of bull blaming yourself for panama how could you

Oh! Does that mean that the elite families in Panama will share the wealth? LOL! You can find most of their names in La Prensa on a daily basis...

Panama is funny as they have a political side-show, while the real problems are caused by several families in Panama City that control almost all of the countries wealth.

A report in The Economist recently noted that Panama has the greatest disparity of wealth in this hemisphere.

The next time they have a "free trade" agreement, maybe the USA and others should also force free trade within the borders of Panama. No more of this garbage where things are the same price everywhere, or you can only buy something at one store or the other because they have exclusive rights.

Panama is pure corruption inside and out; alway has been and always will be until the population wakes up and gets their share of the wealth they produce -- and I don't mean $200.00 a month!

Ah... Roberto! I hate to tell you this... But most of those buildings in Panama City are largely empty and are used for nothing more than money laundering.

I hope I didn't burst your bubble.

Roberto wrote:

For the most part, Panama is a great country. Most Panamanians are decent people. My wife of 42 years is from Panama. There is a fairly booming tourist and non-citizen retirement market in real estate (In a country where 40% live in poverty and there is over 9% unemployment, the 100 plus thousand dollar homes, condos, apartments, etc. are very clearly not for the average Panamanian). This market is making the rich richer with little ripple effect on it's poor. Shouldn't there be a way to enjoy the fruits of Panama without doing so on the backs of the poor?

Hey if you do not like the country go back to yours, we do not need people like you, the world is full of it,

Panama Sucks wrote:

Oh! Does that mean that the elite families in Panama will share the wealth? LOL! You can find most of their names in La Prensa on a daily basis...
Panama is funny as they have a political side-show, while the real problems are caused by several families in Panama City that control almost all of the countries wealth.
A report in The Economist recently noted that Panama has the greatest disparity of wealth in this hemisphere.
The next time they have a "free trade" agreement, maybe the USA and others should also force free trade within the borders of Panama. No more of this garbage where things are the same price everywhere, or you can only buy something at one store or the other because they have exclusive rights.
Panama is pure corruption inside and out; alway has been and always will be until the population wakes up and gets their share of the wealth they produce -- and I don't mean $200.00 a month!

Sorry bro, go back to your cave, you talk about corruption, let me try to explain this to you (hope you understand me), you just had the worst president in history, a dummy, have no idea of anything, have you in the hole and did not do anything positive for anyone right?, take your time to answer I understand is a tough question!,

Panama Sucks wrote:

Ah... Roberto! I hate to tell you this... But most of those buildings in Panama City are largely empty and are used for nothing more than money laundering.
I hope I didn't burst your bubble.
<quoted text>

Roberto, do not waste time answering this guy, is a waste of time, have no idea what corruption means, he has no idea what the U.S does every day, they invented corruption,

I just got back (11/02/09), and it is apparent that the rich people of Panama are not at all concerned with the poor. There is a huge disparity between them both. For example Colon is 16 blocks long, yet it seems like every one of these people are unemployed. Yet right on the outskirts of the 16 blocks the Free Zone has expanded 10 fold. I also noticed that the store rarely have black workers, the word is most of the workers are bused down from Panama. So clearly there is not only is corruption there is racism as well, I don’t know which is worse. Yes there are nice large beautiful buildings and condos in Panama City, but at the same time for the cost of one building, the whole of Colon could be subsidized. Please don’t be blinded by the glize and glam of the big city. The question is what are they doing for the people, like someone said “$200” what’s that..

Roberto wrote:

For the most part, Panama is a great country. Most Panamanians are decent people. My wife of 42 years is from Panama. There is a fairly booming tourist and non-citizen retirement market in real estate (In a country where 40% live in poverty and there is over 9% unemployment, the 100 plus thousand dollar homes, condos, apartments, etc. are very clearly not for the average Panamanian). This market is making the rich richer with little ripple effect on it's poor. Shouldn't there be a way to enjoy the fruits of Panama without doing so on the backs of the poor?